'A Splintering' by Dur e Aziz Amna

Author Dur e Aziz Amna joins Sara for the Radio 2 Book Club to chat about her new novel, 'A Splintering'.

Dur e got the idea for the novel from a walk with her husband, after which the character of Tara came fully formed.

She talks to Sara about her inspirations for this story, how important hope is in a book, no matter how serious the themes and also recommends us what she has been reading and enjoying recently.

Here's a little more about 'A Splintering':

In a village in rural Pakistan, Tara is waiting and watching. The smell of dung and dust hangs over her world. She is desperate to leave the petty life of the village and escape the iron grip of her violent, unpredictable brother. Marrying a middle-class accountant allows her to escape to the capital, but she soon finds that life as a respectable housewife is not sufficient either.

She wants what the rich mothers at her children’s school have. She wants what their husbands have. Her desire for wealth and freedom becomes an obsession. But can she truly shake her past? And what of the menacing spectre of her brother, a reminder of the threads that tie her to the life she left behind?

Set against a hypnotic, oppressive backdrop of political violence and natural disaster, A Splintering traces the class struggle of a woman stuck between province and metropolis, between motherhood and ambition. Disquieting and utterly gripping, it is an extraordinary achievement by Dur e Aziz Amna, an exploration of a complex and unforgettable character who will risk everything to carve out a life of her own.